Republicans Endorse Dr. Tom Tarter, Jeanne Ives & Jim Oberweis

This past Wednesday night, the precinct committeepersons of the Winfield Township Republican Organization in DuPage County met to vote on endorsements for the 2020 Primary Election.

The endorsements went to Dr. Tom Tarter for U.S. Senate, former State Representative Jeanne Ives for the 6th district and State Senator Jim Oberweis in the 14th district.

While no details were released about why the committeepersons voted the way they did, these endorsements give a beginning indication where the respective races are going.

In the U.S. Senate, the 5-person Republican primary field appears to be shaping up a as a head-to-head between former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran and Tarter of Springfield.

Candidate Peggy Hubbard, being the only woman running with four men, might have been seen as having an advantage, but thus far, no advantage has materialized.

Earlier this week, when A.B.A.T.E. of Illinois published its endorsements for the 2020 elections, Hubbard was not endorsed, and A.B.A.T.E. took a pass in endorsing any of the five candidates.

In the 6th district, the inevitability of Ives being the Republican nominee started as soon as Evelyn Sanguinetti withdrew from the race in early October after dismal fundraising in the 3rd quarter. Dr. Jay Kinzler has to date, done nothing to turn the inevitability around.

The same inevitability in the 6th district is beginning to set in among 14th district Republicans with Jim Oberweis’ nomination nearly all but a certainty. Oberweis, who was endorsed by the Lake County Republican Party’s executive committee in early November, has now scored the endorsement of the committeepersons in the DuPage portion of the 14th.

In addition to the two endorsements from above, Oberweis has the support of the county Republican chairs of Lake, McHenry, Kendall and Will Counties, which are four of the seven counties comprising the 14th. Oberweis also has the only pro-life group’s endorsement, the Lake County Life PAC, in spite of all of the Republican candidates being pro-life.

In October, Oberweis had U.S. Senator Marco Rubio host two fundraisers, one each in Washington and Illinois. Retiring Congressman Francis Rooney (R, FL) co-hosted the Washington event, and this past Tuesday, Oberweis had pardoned Army 1st Lieutenant Clint Lorance as guest for 4 fundraisers.

Add to that Oberweis had over $1 million in the bank at the end of last year and already has his first commercials on TV plus his high level of name ID in a crowded field, and the conventional wisdom is beginning to come true that all Oberweis needs to win is his name ID.

While the DuPage County portion of the 14th is relatively small, casting 2% of Republican ballots in the district in 2018, it is also the home of candidate Jerry Evans, who lives in Warrenville in Winfield Township.

The committeepersons took a pass on the hometown Evans and went with Oberweis.

Thus far, the only Illinois-based group making endorsements that Oberweis did not receive is A.B.A.T.E. of Illinois, which went to State Senator Sue Rezin.

As a reminder, in 2018, the county-by-county percentage of Republican ballots cast within the 14th district is below. The bulk of the city of Aurora will be counted among the Kane County votes, and was broken out in 2018 because the Aurora Election Commission was a separate entity at the time.